Ted Cruz

Pretty much everyone in the world is opposed to terrorism in principle, or pretends to be, so the interesting part of anyone’s response to a terrorist atrocity is not the initial condemnation, but what follows after. Most such reactions are predictable. Conservatives generally say, so what are we going to do about it? Liberals generally say, but it has nothing to do with Islam! But some people can’t help themselves: »

Mitt Romney reportedly has told a group of donors in New York that he is considering running for president again next year. With Jeb Bush trying to round up donors, Romney needed to indicate interest, but only if he has some. Clearly, he does. Romney is expected to announce his decision within the next 60 days, according to Spencer Zwick, one his advisers. Having reportedly told the donor group that »

In 2007, Mike Huckabee was an ex-office holder running, in effect, for talk show host. His time as governor of Arkansas over and his finances nowhere near where he wanted them to be, Huckabee, it seemed to me, was hoping to parlay a presidential run into a lucrative career doing what he does so well — talking. Huckabee succeeded. His better than expected (other than by him) run for the »

I suspect that Jeb Bush is launching his presidential bid so early in part as a preemptive strike against Marco Rubio, his fellow Floridian. If Bush gains the inside track on key donors, especially ones from Florida, it might cause Rubio to think twice about running. If Rubio stays out, the benefit to Bush is obvious. To forestall Bush’s attempt at a preemptive strike, Rubio promptly announced that he is »

Eliana Johnson reports that Ted Cruz and his strategists see a path to the presidency that relies on turning out the conservative base and largely ignoring independents: It’s almost conventional wisdom now that presidential candidates woo the party faithful in primary contests and tack to the middle in the general election to attract more-moderate voters. Not Cruz. As one of his advisers puts it, “winning independents has meant not winning.” »

The Senate has approved the so-called Cromnibus bill. It did so in a rare Saturday session. According to the Washington Post, Ted Cruz and Mike Lee forced the Saturday session: Prolonged debate on the spending bill, which passed on a 56-to-40 bipartisan vote, came after Cruz and Lee late Friday night derailed a carefully crafted plan between party leaders to allow senators to go home for the weekend and return »

The Washington Post reports that, on the whole, wealthy Republican donors are unwilling so far to commit to a candidate for president. According to reporters Matea Gold and Tom Hamburger, the donor class is “wary of fueling the kind of costly and politically damaging battle that dominated the 2012 primaries.” More to the point, it’s unclear at this early juncture which potential candidate it makes the most sense to support. »

The Senate has failed to pass the “USA Freedom Act,” which would have hobbled our government’s efforts to conduct electronic surveillance of terrorists. Good. As Mitch McConnell argued, with ISIS and other blood thirsty terrorist groups on the rise, this is “the worst possible time to be tying our hands behind our back.” Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey and former NSA and CIA director Michael Hayden have described the “USA »

You likely have heard about the event last night, billed as Christian, at which Ted Cruz was “booed off the stage” after he made pro-Israel remarks. While that isn’t exactly what happened, the incident was certainly of interest. The IDC Summit 2014 was sponsored by a just-founded group called In Defense of Christians. The event, which wound up today, took place over three days at the Omni Shoreham in Washington. »

The Democrats are desperately trying to keep their impeachment fantasy alive. Why, I am not sure; constantly associating the word “impeachment” with the leader of your party seems like a bad idea. Nevertheless, that is what they are doing. On ABC this morning, White House political adviser Dan Pfeiffer introduced a new theme: impeachment is a threat, because Ted Cruz controls the House of Representatives! At about the same time, »

A new Granite State poll of likely New Hampshire Republican primary voters is out. The poll was conducted for WMUR by the University of New Hampshire. The results can’t be taken too seriously because only 1 percent of those surveyed say they have definitely decided how they will vote. But the results are interesting, nonetheless. Rand Paul is the leader at 15 percent. He is followed by “favorite daughter” Kelly »

Politico reports that Marco Rubio is “seeking to rehabilitate his image with much of the GOP base” by falling back on “staunch conservative positions” such as a “more aggressive U.S. response to Russia in the Ukraine crisis.” I hope that denouncing passivity in response to aggression by our adversaries remains a staunch conservative position. Rubio explained that “many of my supporters maybe disagreed with me on immigration — and disagreed »

That is Ted Cruz’s formula, as delivered on the Senate floor today. Cruz is, obviously, a controversial figure. He is unquestionably one of the most brilliant men in Washington, but at times his judgment has been subject to legitimate criticism. Still–speaking for myself–I like brilliance, especially in the Senate. In his speech today, Cruz pointed to the critical connections among Venezuela, Iran and Cuba. He acknowledged, and elaborated upon, Marco »

Many Republicans are optimistic that, given its manifold problems, Obamacare will be repealed if the GOP wins the presidency in three years. However, as the Heritage Foundation warns, Obamacare is putting down deep roots that will make repeal more difficult than it may now appear. First, Obamacare is creating a new entitlement — taxpayer-funded healthcare subsidies for millions of Americans. Obamacare created insurance exchanges to sell and subsidize government-approved health »

For what it’s worth, and that may not be much, Chris Christie is in a statistical dead heat with Hillary Clinton in a poll by CNN/ORC International. The poll puts Christie at 48 percent and Clinton at 46 percent. Christie wins nearly six in ten votes among independents, and wins a majority of suburbanites and older voters. Clinton wins decisively among women. Unfortunately, Christie is the only Republican among those »

Ted Cruz was on the Tonight Show last night, and Jay Leno, a Democrat, threw everything he could think of at him. But Cruz did a terrific job, if these excerpts are a guide. Parts one and two: While Cruz acquitted himself well, these videos are another reminder why the GOP should not allow an all-Democrat lineup to moderate the party’s 2016 presidential debates. »

While we wait for the dust to settle to get a clear view of the damage from the budget and debt deal currently hanging fire in Washington, I thought it worth taking note of Alan Dershowitz on CNN last night, who, while praising Ted Cruz as one of the best and brightest students he ever had at Harvard Law School nonetheless goes on to make a terrible argument that Cruz’s »